When Steve Nash's team flight landed overnight, it was not his first return to Phoenix. • When Nash spends time today with his 2-year-old son and 8-year-old daughters, it will be only the latest of interstate reunions. • When Nash traverses the visitors' tunnel to the US Airways Center court in gold, this trip will become unique. • Nash, perhaps the most popular Suns player ever, returns tonight to the arena where he left to chants of "We want Steve" in April and where he left a two-time Most Valuable Player's imprints for eight years.

It's hard to imagine, but when Houston's James Harden was named to the NBA Western Conference All-Star team as a reserve Thursday, it marked the first time that a former Arizona State player had been named to an All-Star team in 23 years.

No number defines the Suns' season quite like 25. • The Suns' loss total ties New Orleans for the most in the Western Conference and is not far from how many they had all season (28) three years ago. • Low outside expectations were rarely this low. The belly of a snake drags only a bit more than this season has, with a 1-10 stretch putting the Suns at 12-25. • "I said to the guys, 'No one's going to dig us out of this. We've got to dig ourselves out of this,'" coach Alvin Gentry said. "No one feels sorry for you in the NBA. So it's got to be us with the execution and us completing the plays and us doing the right things." • The Arizona State men's basketball team has more victories than the Suns, whose following numbers define a season that appears to be lost before its midpoint.